Record Set by First Year United State Silver Dollar- 1913 Nickel Up Next!
It’s official. The first ever $10,000,000+ price tag for a US coin sold in auction! A world record price for any coin ever sold! Sold by the Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction house on January 24th, 2013, this first year issue of a United State dollar coin may in fact be the very first dollar coin ever minted… but that can’t be confirmed. The coin, known as the Cardinal Collection dollar, is a 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar specimen in superb Gem uncirculated condition, the finest known example extant.
This particular coin has been graded by Profession Coin Grading Service (PCGS) as a Specimen 66 which suggests the expert graders at PCGS concur that this coin could very well be the first United States dollar minted as a specimen example of what other dollars of that year would look like. Once minted it was obviously very carefully stored and cared for over the year to remain in such wonderful condition. While all early dollars carry a strong numismatic premium, the 1794 first year dollars are the most valuable, and this is the finest known of all existing 1794 dollars. Truly a remarkable coin!
Next up, the 1913 Liberty Nickel scheduled to be sold by the Heritage Galleries Auction House in late April. This coin is one of five known examples of the Liberty nickel dated 1913. The mint was scheduled to discontinue the Liberty nickels at the end of 1912 and begin making the new Buffalo nickels in 1913. However, a mint employee, Samuel W. Brown, apparently decided to produce five Liberty nickel bearing the 1913 date. In 1920, Mr. Brown sold those five coins at the American Numismatic Convention.
In the mid-1940’s this particular coin was owned by George O. Walton when he was killed in an auto accident. This coin and hundreds of others were scattered about the wreckage. Experts later reviewed the coin, declared it to be a fake and returned it to Mr. Walton’s family where it has remained for decades. Experts believe this coin could sell for as much as $5,000,000 in the April Auction.
